Indian Classics - Aloo Gobi

This week actually marks the tenth anniversary of this blog. However, somewhere along the way, in the past year and a half, I seem to have lost my way a little. My pregnancy with Baby Sky wasn't the greatest, and all I wanted to do was sleep, as opposed to cook or eat, or feed anyone else, for that matter. I think I might have survived on ginger biscuits and mangoes.

Ennui comes in many forms. As someone who has struggled with being motivated, it can be a death knell for the creative side. It doesn't help that I work a job in real life that fulfills me professionally and financially. It has just made it easier to not nurture the creative side of me. I was also so disappointed with internet algorithms. All these beautiful niche recipes that I had carefully worked on were now disappearing from search results, in favour of generic recipes from sites like Genius Kitchen or Allrecipes. I mean, what's the point in continuing to compete in such a lopsided market with zero motivation for smaller bloggers? All that work, developing recipes, cooking, styling the food, taking photographs, writing, coming up with a cool SEO friendly title, marketing non-stop, social media, submitting to food porn sites... and it all disappears down a deep, dark black hole because large sites with unlimited marketing budgets know how to fuck you over with their fancy SEO shite and manipulation of search algorithms.


So I made a decision to stop blogging creatively. I continued doing social media – the bite sized formats are easier to work with, plus the financial rewards are a lot better than the crazy workload of the blog, I made more money working with companies for purely social media exposure than I did with blogging or writing – I did a few photo essays, and created a few recipes for agricultural groups that valued my hard work creating and testing (over and over again) recipes that are delicious and work.

I never set out to be a huge blogger or a celebrity. I worked my ass off for the last ten years, and as a result, was able to claim some moderate success for this site. But I've reached the point where I am seriously questioning the point of food blogs and the work they entail, as opposed to the rewards they generate. Some people will claim that the creativity of blogging is a reward in itself. This was me for a long time. But you know what?

I am fucking tired. Tired of competing in an unequal world. Tired of running round and round on this never ending hamster wheel of a little success, and a lot of failure and disappointment. I am tired of having to be a jack-of-all-trades. I am tired of wanting to make a difference. I am exhausted being the little person. I don't want to learn new technology. I hate being on video or doing video or being told I need to do video to stay relevant. I hate having to keep up with the gazillion social media platforms that keep popping up. I hate that other bloggers and websites think it is okay to plagiarise my stuff and I am tired of sending out DMCA and take-down notices. I am bloody tired of those self same plagiarist bloggers and YouTube personalities being featured on the fucking BBC and national media and gaining more and more success. I am tired of telling people to stop sharing their recipes and getting responses ranging from "eh, what does it matter though, the video is good, no?" or "are you jealous"? I am tired of short attention spans and people like me being told to "just get to the fucking recipe..." and don't write your life story (you know, the very memories that people relate to on this site, and the writing that made this site a success in the first place!)

Honestly? Stick a fork in me. I am fucking done. Where does this leave the Tiffin Box? I don't know. I'll let you know when I am not so angry.



But here's a recipe for aloo gobi. I can pretty much cook this with my eyes closed, without any cups, or tablespoons, or teaspoons. I make this for my family all the time. Loosely translated to potato-cauliflower, this curry is a mainstay of almost half of India's not inconsiderable population and in my own household. It is good. It's easy. I've tweaked it to make it a perfect recipe that works in every bloody kitchen and for all levels of experience. It is well written. I have taken good pictures of what it looks like and what you should expect it to look like.

It's not SEO friendly, and it probably won't show up at the top of Google search but it is fucking tasty and it won't disappoint you. That's all.

Recipe: Aloo Gobi 
(Printable Recipe) 

2 large potatoes, peeled and cut into chunks 
1 – 2 tablespoons canola oil 
1 teaspoon mustard seeds 
½ teaspoon cumin seeds 
1 small onion, finely diced 
1 clove garlic, crushed 
½ inch piece of ginger, crushed 
2 tomatoes, chopped 
¼ teaspoon ground turmeric 
½ - 1 teaspoon garam masala 
1 large cauliflower, chopped into the same size florets as the potato chunks 
Hot water, as needed 
Salt to taste 
Small handful fresh cilantro, chopped 
Rice or roti, to serve 

Method: 

Place the potatoes in salted water, and boil until just tender. 

Heat the oil in a large saucepan. When hot, add the mustard and cumin seeds. Stir for 30 seconds, then add the onion. 

Fry the onion for about 5 minutes, until just beginning to go golden around the edges. Add the garlic and ginger, and stir for a minute. 

Add the tomatoes, turmeric and garam masala with a little bit of salt. Stir and cook together for about 5 – 7 minutes, until the masala is thick-ish. 

Add the cauliflower to the above mixture along with a splash of hot water to loosen and stir gently, then add the cooked potatoes and stir everything together well. 

Season to taste with salt.

Cover and cook for about 10 – 15 minutes, adding a little more water, if the mixture looks too dry (this is a fairly dry dish, so go easy on the water) until the cauliflower is just tender and the potatoes have absorbed the spices.

Stir in fresh, chopped cilantro and serve with rice or roti.